The winners of the prestigious British Woodworking Federation (BWF) Awards 2018 have been revealed at a glittering awards evening held at Stationer’s Hall in central London.
Now in their tenth year, the BWF Awards celebrate the best of the best in UK woodworking, recognising technical innovation, design, process efficiencies, health & safety and the rising stars of the industry.
The five categories and winners were:
Woodworking Project of the Year (sponsored by Whitehill Spindle Tools Limited):
TMJ Interiors – for their work creating a timber lobby ‘vortex’ for Bloomberg’s HQ in London. This award recognises the very best in design, application or ability in joinery manufacture, and innovation in joinery projects. TMJ Interiors were appointed to deliver a timber lobby ‘vortex’ with three seven metre-high, 32-40-metre-long curve-on-curve interconnecting assembles – the largest free-standing structure ever manufactured and installed by TMJ, along with an auditorium and an associated pre-function gathering space. The resulting structure has been described as the centrepiece of Bloomberg’s world class HQ, which won the RIBA Stirling Prize of the Year earlier this year.
Product Design in Wood (sponsored by Teknos):
Arden Windows – for their Heritage Stoneleigh Sash window designed to provide a solution for care apartments. This award recognises excellence in technical expertise, application and innovation in joinery product manufacture and design. Arden Windows manufactured a window design for a 71 bed Extra Care home in Doncaster that not only meets the conservation and heritage aesthetics of a sliding sash window but also is simple to use for elderly and disabled users. Arden designed and manufactured a bespoke solution that was not available in the general marketplace, going through a number of iterations, design changes and testing to successfully meet the challenge.
Process Efficiency (sponsored by W20):
Morland – for their Forever Firecheck™ intumescent strip solution for fire doors which is fitted by using wrap technology. The award celebrates improvements that help customers get the best possible products at the best possible prices, quality levels and delivery times. Intumescent strips for fire rated doorsets are traditionally encapsulated in plastic and manually fitted. In their design of Forever Firecheck™, Morland have not only created a more resilient, attractive and sustainable product through the use of a graphite strip instead of plastic, they have also significantly reduced the time it takes to fit the strips. Using their wrapping technology, the new strips can be fitted at 25m per minute compared to 8m per minute as previously achieved through manual fitting.
Health & Safety Hero (sponsored by Didac):
Tavener Joinery – for their design and installation of a high velocity vacuum system which utilises their existing traditional LEV extraction system. This award acknowledges individual or collective effort which has made a notable difference to health and safety practices and business culture. Tavener created their own innovative solution to extract fine dust from their joinery workshop, which can be a significant health hazard for workers. Having spoken to various extraction companies who could not provide a solution to meet their needs, Tavener created their own, using a high velocity turbo fan to create a vacuum that accelerates the dust and blows it into the existing LEV main duct. Air quality has improved dramatically and they now have a cleaner and safer working environment.
Apprentice/Trainee of the Year (sponsored by CITB):
Henry Acres from JT Ward – this award celebrates apprentices or those who have entered the industry through alternative routes, including graduates, A level students and in-house trainees. This award really is for the rising stars of UK joinery – those that truly stand out from the crowd, either through fantastic feats in their work, or extraordinary commitment that adds value to the business. Henry Acres scooped this year’s prize. According to his company JT Ward, “Henry enjoys every aspect of joinery manufacturing and installation. His ability to think ahead has certainly allowed him not only to become a very reliable part of our team but has helped him to produce high quality joinery…. Henry is one of the most talented apprentices that we have had the pleasure to employ.”
Helen Hewitt, chief executive of the BWF, said:
“My warm congratulations to our winners, all of whom have excelled in their work. The number and quality of entries we received this year was exceptional. The awards are a chance to showcase the talent and professionalism of our industry, and bring people together to celebrate their achievements. This year’s awards were a great success once again and underline the huge contribution the woodworking and joinery sector makes to UK industry and manufacturing.”
